1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an energy-supplementing saccharide source and uses thereof, more particularly, to an energy-supplementing saccharide source essentially consisting of trehalose prepared by allowing non-reducing saccharide-forming enzyme to act on partial starch hydrolysates exhibiting a reducing power, hereinafter sometimes referred to as .alpha.,.alpha.-trehalose and to an energy-supplementing composition containing said trehalose as effective ingredient.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Reducing saccharides such as glucose and fructose have been used for a long time as energy-supplementing saccharide source. The reducing saccharides, however, have a relatively-poor storage stability because of their reducing power, and, generally they become more unstable in coexistence with other nutritives such as amino acids and vitamins.
Therefore, the realization of an energy-supplementing saccharide source essentially consisting of a non-reducing saccharide such as xylitol, sorbitol, maltitol, lactitol, sucrose or trehalose has been in great demand. Among these non-reducing saccharides, monosaccharide alcohols such as xylitol and sorbitol have the disadvantage that they may cause serious diarrhea when administered to the body with an improper dose or route of administration. Disaccharide alcohols such as maltitol and lactitol, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 13,699/72 and 42,506/72, are not readily metabolized and utilized by living bodies, and actually have been used as a diet sweetener. Thus, the disaccharide alcohols are not satisfactory as an energy-supplementing saccharide source. Sucrose has the disadvantage that it is readily hydrolyzed the into sugars glucose and fructose under acidic conditions, thus exibiting poor storage stability. As evident from the descriptions of "Trehalose is low caloric because it is not substantially assimilated and utilized by the body." and "Trehalose is not substantially hydrolyzed by amylases, etc.", as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 240,758/88, trehalose has been recognized as saccharide source which does not act as an energy source in vivo.